By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor
A Liberian pastor in North Carolina suffered a stroke while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, his family says as they are seeking answers about the medical care he received.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 55-year-old Gabriel Johnson during a targeted immigration enforcement operation on July 15, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told The Christian Post.
“He entered the country on December 30, 1987, on a visa that allowed him to remain in the country for six months,” the spokesperson said. “In violation of our nation’s laws, he overstayed his visa. An immigration judge issued him a final order of removal in January 1991. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal.”
Johnson, an associate pastor at Elm Grove Church Ministries, Inc., of Pikeville, North Carolina, was transported to a hospital on July 30 with stroke-like symptoms and is “being monitored for high blood pressure,” the spokesperson added. He is in stable condition.
ICE agents took Johnson, a citizen of Liberia who arrived in the United States at age 15, into custody at the family’s home in Cary, North Carolina, NewsNation reports.
His family contends that Johnson has maintained legal immigration status since he came to the U.S. but never became a citizen. He earned a degree from North Carolina Central University, an institution historically serving black students, and later became an ordained pastor.
The DHS said that the pastor has a “lengthy rap sheet” that includes convictions for drug possession, fraud, mail theft, use of unauthorized access devices, false citizenship and multiple traffic offenses. The spokesperson said he also faced charges for harassing communication and simple assault.
Relatives say Johnson was moved through several facilities before being transferred to Texas, where he had the stroke on July 30.
Family members who traveled to Texas said they struggled to gain access to him and were able to see Johnson only after he was hospitalized, NBC News reported.
The stroke has taken movement from half his body, the family says. They want him released so he can begin rehabilitation, and they are questioning whether the episode was preventable.
Johnson’s medical history includes elevated blood pressure and prior strokes. His daughter told theGrio that he missed doses of his medication during his detention and alleged that detainees were not given enough food or water.
Johnson’s daughter said the family was initially told that his detention had to do with a missed immigration appointment but was later told that they were pursuing removal of her father.
“I got a call from the hospital in Texas today saying that my father was rushed there after having a stroke,” Gabri Johnson said in a July 30 social media video. “Like he’s been telling them, ‘give me my medication,’ ‘give me food,’ ‘give me water.’ They laughed at him. They refused. My father had a stroke in the left side of his body is completely paralyzed right now. ICE is fully responsible for this.”
Detainees and advocates have claimed conditions inside the facilities are poor, with insufficient food and limited access to medical care.
The DHS has pushed back on those accounts, saying it is “longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care” from the moment people enter ICE custody.
“This includes medical, dental, and mental health services as available, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care,” the DHS spokesperson assured. “This is the best healthcare many illegal aliens have received in their entire lives.”
Questions about conditions inside ICE detention facilities have persisted for months as the Trump administration continues its immigration enforcement push. The DHS says it’s “targeting the worst of the worst,” citing statistics that nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal immigrants who have been charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.
Critics argue that the Trump administration’s ramped-up immigration enforcement policies have led to arrests and deportations of pastors, respected community members and refugees from some of the world’s worst countries for Christian persecution.
In July, Border Patrol agents detained a Mexican couple who serve as pastors in Texas, saying their visas had lapsed years earlier. The couple — Cinthia Sarai Cardona Otero and her husband, Nepthali Zozaya Saucedo — were arrested a day apart, on July 23 and July 24. They lead Comunidad Cristiana Emanuel, a congregation of the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination, in Edinburg, Texas.
The pair entered the country on visas issued in February 2022, which expired five months later, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time. The spokesperson added that the couple was released under an alternatives-to-detention arrangement and must report in person every six months to a field office in Harlingen, Texas, and call in monthly, with their claims to be heard by an immigration judge.
The pastors were traveling to a Spanish-language seminar on Bible-based spiritual leadership hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) at the time of their arrest. A spokesperson for BGEA confirmed the couple was on the way to the event but declined to provide additional information.
Critics, including the Latino Christian National Network, say the couple was wrongfully detained while in the process of obtaining lawful permanent residence.
